The Heart of the Spider
by rainbowthefox
Summary: Jack Skellington goes off to to find Sally, reunite with her, and save the Town. Except things are different now, and they don't go according to plan. ANGST FIC! The Nightmare Before Christmas/Oogie's Revenge fanfic.


He was fast to get to his wanted destination, the words of the Hanging Tree and the Corpse Child repeating relentlessly in his skull. It was a fear he wouldn't wish to impose on anyone, not even his worst enemy - the encumbering feeling of knowing the person you loved was in danger. That they were taken beyond their will, forced into imprisonment, and possibly tortured or manipulated when you weren't there. And that was the fear Jack had to face as he raced across the Graveyard, refusing to imagine his beloved harmed in any way, or treated anymore as a slave than she already had been. That had been his fault from the start: forcing his people to succumb to the rule of a manipulative, sadistic murderer whose purpose was tormenting anyone he could get his hands on...

When Ethan told him Oogie's baddies had kidnapped Sally, he didn't know what to think. It was an initial form of both shock and anger - their previous encounter on that fateful Christmas day rang true to his mind. Surely Boogie had learned nothing by taking someone so dear to him, the same person who ultimately determined his fate the moment he decided to keep her in his clutches...the woman whom he had taken now, except this time, Jack wasn't there to swoop in and save her. And that was the concern gnawing at his bones as he pressed his heels further into the dirt, kicking up the remnants of dead bugs and disturbed cobwebs as he arrived at the crypt.

He felt so confident when the plan of a rescue mission became clear to him. But the exhilaration that fueled him on the way somehow diminished, and was now replaced with wariness as he looked over the tall building. Not only was he dealing with the possibility that the love of his death may be harmed, or trapped, or captured, or possibly dismembered somewhere inside - but when all is well, he'd have to face her. After 2 months of leaving Sally alone, to fend for herself in these dangerous times...after a long time of being away from her; dealing with the consequences of his absence. It was **him** who put her in this position, who couldn't be there when she truly needed it. And if that didn't eat away at what was left of his confidence, he was sure it would eat away at hers.

He took all of this in a brief moment of pause, then resumed his way by walking through the empty corridors. He looked around in search of her red yarn hair, or anything that stuck out from the grayness of the walls and the dust collected in the air. But he didn't have to go very far before he found a figure standing across the large room, their gaze locked on the floor with their arms clutched to their side. He felt a hefty triumph in his chest as his eye sockets widened. He couldn't stop her name from slipping off of his tongue. The name of a woman whom he missed dearly, and craved again for a long time...a beautiful ragdoll that he worried so much about, to be in one-piece, and perfectly okay!

"Sally!"

She became aware of his presence instantly and jumped. She turned quickly to face him. Both of their gazes met for a solid minute. And in that time, Jack inched closer to her figure, strutting at a quicker pace to get to her and reunite with his love again. To have her scream his name, run into his arms, and hold her close in compensation of their lack of contact for the past 2 months...for everything to be left behind them, and to be fully reconciled. To finally hear her voice again and stroke her soft cheeks, to run his hands through her yarn hair again and know that, this time, he's truly home. But when he got a better look at her, he recognized that something was different. Something that was most likely resulted from his negligence.

She was crying.

The moment he saw the tears stream down her face, he wanted nothing more than to console her. And that's what he did - stepping up and wrapping his arms around her smaller figure, bringing her as close as possible to him. She didn't fight or protest, but turned very weak in his arms as she clutched at his sleeves. He could feel her tears falling on his undershirt, and every time he heard her sniffle, his bones grew more numb. This moment lasted for several minutes, with Jack combing his hands through her hair and using the other to rub her back. She dug her head further in his chest and he felt her grip start to tighten. Her fingers began to wobble and so did her legs, and he had to keep an arm around her waist to stop her from falling.

"It's alright," He assured her. "Shhh. It's okay. I'm here now."

She shook her head gently. "Jack...you're finally back..."

Her sniffling started to cease, but the tears were still very prominent. He began to sway them a little to the side, trying to assure her that his presence was _real_ and he was there now. "-Things will be okay now, my love. I'm here to fix everything."

He finally gets a better look at her eyes as she slowly brings her head up and gazes at him. She reached an arm to his skull to caress the side of her finger along his jaw. He took his bony hand to bring it to hers and give it a slight squeeze. Another noise emerged from her mouth, but it wasn't a sob. It was a sound of relief. His chest softened when he felt her squeeze back, but she withdrew her hand to remove herself from him. The moment their embrace was broken, Jack was enveloped in a cold feeling. He was dumbfounded when she turned away from him to clasp her hands down at her waistline, staring through the large window that illuminated the room.

"You've been gone for a...a very long time, now."

"I know I have. It was...a lot longer than I intended. I meant to come back a lot sooner."

Her eyes drifted down to the floor again. She continues, very quietly, "The town has changed a lot. When Oogie took over - things took a turn for the worst. Everyone had to hide, and the few who were unfortunate had to serve Oogie. We've needed you more than we ever had before."

She finally turned to look him in the eye sockets. He recognized the dull look in her eyes, the presence of stoicism striking through his bones as if they were paper. Her next words make him ache even more, the reality impounded relentlessly into his skull. "-_But you weren't there._"

"I..."

He failed to get the right words out. She stared at him for a few moments before turning away again, crossing her arms over her chest and digging her hands deeply into her skin. He took a step towards her, to place his hand on her shoulder and remind her that he was there now, but then he saw her flinch. He didn't know what hurt worse at that moment - facing the cruel results of his mistakes, or knowing that he had broken one of his promises to Sally.

"I'm so sorry. And I wouldn't say that if I didn't mean it. I wasn't thinking when I put Dr. Finklestein in charge of the town while I was gone. I should've let the Mayor handle everything. I could've stayed longer, to make sure you were okay. Or brought you with me. That's what I should've done. Not-"

"You shouldn't have left us."

Those words left her throat in sobs. He reached out to touch her again, but she stepped back before he could, which very well was the equivalence of a knife piercing his phantom heart several times. She was only telling him the honest truth - facts he needed to hear. And right now, he needed to hear what Sally had to say.

"You're our leader, Jack. Everyone relies on you. They look to you for guidance, for your protection, and most of all, they trust you. What I just don't understand is..." She knitted her eyebrows together before drawing her eyes slowly up to him. "Why did you leave when everything you've ever wanted was right in front of you?"

He pursed his lips. That hit him like a stone wall. And every part of it was true. That was something he realized far before he ever took that trip - on Christmas night, when he attempted to fill the emptiness in his soul by taking over someone else's holiday, where he learned that all he truly wanted was someone to understand and love him for who he is. And he got that. He had Sally in his death now. Someone so kind and understanding, who risked everything for him...she had been by his side ever since, and he left her. Why _did_ he ever leave? Why had he felt so discomforted with his death again? When all he needed was to just take the further step...that would've prevented the town being taken over, and it certainly wouldn't have resulted to this.

At his silence, the tears returned to Sally's eyes, falling down even faster this time as she conceals her face with her hands. He went to hold her again, but stopped himself short. Even someone as clueless as him could take the hint...he couldn't pretend everything was fine. That he could magically make everything better just because he's back. He had to patch things up one at a time, slowly progress through them...and gaining Sally's trust again...dare say, her affection once more...that was something he had to naturally do. Not impose it on her in any way.

"Sally...I understand you're upset with me. You have every right to be. And I don't feel good about what I did. Not at all. I left just to realize that I should have stayed all along. I can't even begin to imagine everything I put you through. You and the town...it's my fault everyone is where they are, and it's my job to fix everything and set things right."

She doesn't say anything, which adds to the weight on his shoulders. The guilt churned some more in his rib cage as the silence prolonged. He was always thankful for Sally being so understanding, but if he had screwed up so bad that she even _she_ couldn't forgive him, then he knew he made the biggest mistake of his death. The last thing he ever wanted was to lose her, but it gave him unimaginable pain just to know that he had hurt her. He wasn't sure if he could live knowing he shattered her faith in him.

"Do you know..." She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Do you know how much I worried about you? How much I looked at your house and wondered where you could be? Some even thought you were dead, and I..." She stopped to swallow. "I didn't know what to think. I didn't hear from you for so long, and I got so lonely. When Oogie took over, I didn't know if you'd ever come back. And what hurt the most, Jack, is that you never said goodbye."

Her eyes, now very moist, met with his. Her words hit him like bullets. "You never told me why you wanted to leave. You didn't talk to me much and, before I knew it, you were just..._gone_." She rubbed the side of her arm slowly. "It hurt knowing you didn't open up to me. That you didn't trust me to know or, or that you didn't even bother telling me why. I thought I was your dearest friend, and we promised we'd listen to each other..."

She started to cry again. He couldn't take it anymore and threw himself on her, taking her hands and holding them tightly in his own. This brought her gaze to his, her eyes reddened and her cheeks completely covered in tears. He could feel her shaking under his grasp, but it wasn't out of fear. It was out of dejection and misery, and he was the cause of it. He couldn't bare that thought. He couldn't handle anymore of hearing how much he had hurt the only person he loved more than anything else in the world. He couldn't forgive himself for doing this to her.

"**_I love you._** I love you with all my heart, my soul, my being, Sally...You're the one for me, and I'm the one for you." His grip softened when he realized he was hurting her. He rubbed her palm apologetically. "It was selfish of me, what I did. It was wrong, it was selfish, and it was...it was unforgivable. You mean everything to me, but these past 2 months, I made it feel like you didn't matter. Which is the last thing I ever wanted to do."

He felt the tears threaten to leave his own eye sockets. He held them back, but they stung as he continued, "-The fact that you're doubting you were ever my dearest friend...well, that's the worst thing I've ever done to you. The truth is that you're the love of my death, Sal. You always have been. Even as careless and selfish as I can be, you were always there for me. But I wasn't there for you." He noticed her cheeks were starting to dry. "You don't ever have to forgive me, but I want you to know that leaving you was absolute torture, and being without you for so long hurt in ways I can't describe. You've always been my reason, and after everything is fixed, Sally, I promise...you won't ever have to go through something like this ever again. And that's a promise I'll keep, I swear to God."

Her eyes tear up again, but he there's a different look in them now. They're sparkling, filled with relief and joy. He wiped the rest of the tears off for her. When he withdrew his hand, he noticed the small smile growing on her lips. Then he felt a wave of relief wash over him, and the weight finally lifted off his shoulders. But he knew there was going to be a very long time after this...a time where he had to prove to her that he'll be keeping his word on this. That he'll treat her so much better than what he put her through. To regain her trust and...and possibly-

"I love you too, Jack...I just-_AH!_"

In the midst of her sentence, a web circled around Sally repeatedly before taking her off to the ceiling. Jack jumped in surprise and naturally reached for her, but a ginormous spider jumped down in front of him before he could get to her. He had to take several steps back and shielded himself from its screech. When he looked above, he found the love of his death hanging precariously from the ceiling. Clenching his bony fists, he knew just what he had to do now.


End file.
